A hundred years of sodium pumping

A history of the study of sodium pumping is presented. Evidence that cell membranes of animals have pumps that exchange sodium ions in the cell for potassium ions outside is reviewed with discussion of other aspects of this topic, including that one of the working cycle involves transfer of a phosphate group and a conformational change and that the other half does too. The phosphate transfer is associated with occlusion of ions bound at one surface and the conformational change that lets the occluded ions go on the other side. The career, education, and life of the author are discussed.